The 76ers' owner, Harris talked plenty about risk Tuesday afternoon in a press conference at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine that felt more like a board meeting, minus the fancy graphics in the finances report. There, Harris and the Sixers introduced Sam Hinkie as their president of basketball operations and general manager.

Without risk comes no reward, so the Sixers are all in. They hired Hinkie, an analytics expert, someone at the forefront of a largely unexplored realm of front-office management, to handle their basketball goings-on.

The Sixers need a coach, and probably one or two front-office guys around whom Hinkie can work, and a handful of decisions regarding the June 27 draft and the July 1 opening of free agency. All pressing matters, for sure. Instead, Hinkie and Harris Tuesday spent time addressing "assets" (players), "risks" (trades and free agency), "sunk cost" (money spent on Andrew Bynum, money they're never going to recover), and everything else in between.

"I sent Josh an email at 2:30 this morning, I woke up at 5, I drug two suitcases to the airport and bought a one-way ticket. I'm here," said Harris, who was hired away from an assistant GM post with the Houston Rockets. "I'll be in a hotel until we get a lot of those things in place. The first 100 days will be a real whirlwind. I welcome that. It's a real whirlwind every year if you do your job the way I like to do it."

In looking to hire a general manager to succeed Tony DiLeo, who was excised after one season in that position, Harris went after a guy who embraced his mentality about running the basketball team he owns. Hinkie, known around the league as a numbers-crunching executive who understands the ins and outs of salary-cap demands and analytics, certainly fit the bill.

Hinkie was the Sixers' target for GM last offseason. Talks dissolved. A year later, he was Harris' man.

Critical decisions await Hinkie, though he said he feels no rush to make them.

He said he wants a head coach, but the right one: "We'll try to move that along as quickly as possible," he said, "but everything is about getting the right guy. I think everything should be focused on that. Turn over every rock."

He said he wants to assess the roster -- one on which he called Jrue Holiday, Thad Young and Evan Turner "quite interesting" -- but on-court necessities are not going to lead him toward drafting and signing players solely based on their positions: "I think there are obvious needs, positions -- a backup (point guard), more bigs, right?" Harris said. "I'm unlikely to let that drive me -- I'll say that. I'm unlikely to let that particular niche to fill drive me. We'll consider it, all of those things, but as a team, there are other needs, as well."

He said he wants to look into the Bynum situation: "My first duty is to get up to speed on that information."

For those living under that rock Hinkie said he's going to overturn, the Sixers traded for Bynum last offseason, gave up four first-rounders to get him, committed $16.5 million to pay him and, due to knee injuries, he never played. Because the Sixers own the Bird rights on Bynum, a restricted free agent, they can sign him for more money and more years than any other team. That, Hinkie said, makes Bynum appealing. Well, that and how the Sixers possess more information on Bynum's degenerative joints than anyone else.

Speaking of information, that's what propels Hinkie. He's a 35-year-old who began his post-college career in the business world, learning to make decisions based on the bottom line. In the basketball world, the same metrics dominate. Having the most information available allowed Hinkie to turn a Western Conference clunker like Houston into a playoff team. Hinkie's embrace of analytics boils down to his ability "to make better decisions."

At the very least, Harris' grasp of analytics could help the Sixers put a contending team on the floor next season -- or the season after. They have approximately $12 million in cap space to fill out their roster, with $46 million committed to eight players. Next offseason they could have as much as $30 million in space. That's plenty of money to allow Hinkie to get creative. And analytical.

But as Harris suggested, the NBA isn't going to allow the Sixers too much of a head start.

"People are figuring this out," Harris said. "I think we're going to have to be better, faster, quicker, stronger."